just when you thought onion rings couldn’t get any better, the sexy vegan is here to teach you how to make onion rings encrusted with vegan funyuns. sounds crazy, right? well this guy is a genius, so check out his guest blog post and video to learn how to make this insanely brilliant snack. oh, and follow him on twitter!

A ring is a helluva thing. It’s circular form has been recognized throughout this planet’s history as being a symbol of unity, infinity, life, and perfection. And that’s really very nice and all…but If you ask me, a circle can’t truly be perfect unless it’s a circle made out of onion…which then gets coated with a bunch of other, smaller, crushed-up circles, that taste like onions. What the hell am I talking about, you ask? You know those rings of pure joy, that a trader named Joe occasionally bestows upon us, known as “Baked Onion Rings?” Wait, what am I saying? You’re a loyal reader of quarrygirl.com, of course you do. Then you also know that they are both vegan and delicious. Well, they’ll be the coating for these oven baked beauties that I like to call: “Oven Baked Onion Ring Encrusted Oven Baked Onion Rings!” A more perfect circle, I could not imagine.

Oven Baked Onion Ring Encrusted Oven Baked Onion Rings

1 really big onion (Vidalia would be ideal)
2 cups non-dairy milk
1 ½ cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon vinegar (white or apple cider)
3-5 dashes hot sauce
1 cup panko breadcrumbs
Enough baked onion ring snacks to make 2 cups of ground baked onion ring snacks
Salt and Pepper to taste
Some sprayable cooking oil

Preheat your oven to a whopping 450 F. Whisk the hot sauce and vinegar into the milk, and set aside for a few minutes. This mixture will mimic buttermilk. Remove the skin from the onion, and cut it into ¾ inch rings. Carefully separate the rings, place them into a shallow casserole dish and pour in the milk mixture, gently tossing to coat. Set aside.

In another shallow casserole, combine your ground up onion ring snacks and the panko bread crumbs and season them with salt and pepper. Shake excess milk from the raw rings and lightly coat them with the breadcrumb mix. Then set them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. When this is done, whisk the flour into to the milk that the onions just came out of. If you had the milk in a casserole, I’m going to recommend that you switch to a round mixing bowl for this part. Ever try to whisk something in a square container? Not fun.

Now that you have this thin batter, get on with the dredging. One by one, dip a ring in the batter, then coat it with the onion-y dry mix, and place it back on the sheet pan. When they’re all battered and breaded, give them a light spray of oil, and bake them for 35-40 minutes. Take them out and hit them with a little salt and pepper. The rings will be tender on the inside, and crunchy and golden on the outside…like if you peed on a hippie. Enjoy.